Creative Labs SB0880 PCI Express Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Sound Card

by Creative

• Hear crackling gunfire and earth-shattering explosions, EAX 5.0 delivers sound effects that pull you into the game.
• Hear 3D positional audio so precise, you can locate enemies by sound.
• Boost performance in your favorite games with hardware audio acceleration that will blow your motherboard audio away
• PCI Express Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium has fantastic inputs and low-latency ASIO drivers for great music recording
• Watch your DVDs in cinematic surround sound with PowerDVD software featuring DTS and Dolby Digital-EX decoding

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 11 x 2 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B001E25KDK
• Item model number: 70SB088000004
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (99 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
  • #59 in Electronics > Computers & Add-Ons > Computer Components > Internal Sound Cards
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: May 2, 2008

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

The Creative PCI Express Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium sound card delivers exceptional audio performance to your PC. With realistic environmental effects and 3-D positional audio, you'll be able to locate opponents by sound whether you're using surround speakers or stereo headphones. In addition, the X-Fi Titanium uses a powerful audio-processing engine that will outperform other motherboard audio options.

PCI Express Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Sound Card At a Glance: Powerful audio processing for better game performance X-Fi CMSS-3D creates nine virtual speakers when using stereo headphones X-Fi Crystalizer restores lost detail in compressed music and audio Realistic gaming effects with EAX 5.0 Dolby Digital Live and DTS Connect (Windows Vista only) Encoder

With a powerful audio processing engine, you'll have a boost of up to 15 percent in real-game performance. View larger.

Powerful Audio Processing Boosts Game Performance
The PCI Express Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium employs a powerful audio-processing engine. Unlike other motherboard audio solutions that task the computer processor, the X-Fi Titanium performs the heavy lifting and leaves your processor free to work on other tasks. This boosts real-game performance by up to 15 percent, while still delivering all audio effects with outstanding 24-bit sound quality.

Realistic Gaming Effects with EAX 5.0 Technology
With support for EAX ADVANCED HD technology, the X-Fi Titanium delivers rich environmental effects for a more immersive gaming experience. You'll hear bullets whizzing by your head, feel earth-shattering explosions, and experience other sound effects that bring you closer to the game.

Positional 3-D Audio
With X-Fi CMSS-3D technology, the X-Fi Titanium delivers outstanding surround sound whether you're using headphones or speakers. When used with a regular pair of stereo headphones, X-Fi CMSS-3D creates nine virtual speakers for exceptional surround effects, letting you feel like you're sitting in the best seat of a movie theater. You'll get an advantage in games, too, with the ability to locate enemies by sound before they see you.

And with multichannel speakers, you'll be able to hear exactly where the audio cues are--even between speakers. Voices will be right in front of you and ambient sound will surround you, just like a live performance. CMSS-3D works with both desktop stereo speakers and full surround speaker systems.

X-Fi Crystalizer Restores Lost Details
Recover lost detail with X-Fi Crystalizer technology. This technology restores the audio detail that is lost in compressed audio files so you'll regain vibrancy and clarity in your music and movies. Highs and lows that were lost are enhanced, so whether you're listening to cymbal crashes or wailing guitars, you'll hear the music as it was meant to be heard.

High-Quality Voice Chat
With high-quality inputs and hardware audio processing, the X-Fi Titanium ensures great vocal quality in your voice chats, so your teammates will hear you loud and clear. Plug in your headset or microphone, and you'll hear the difference instantly.

Intense Cinematic Sound for Movies
The X-Fi Titanium delivers THX-certified surround sound for a cinematic experience right at your computer. Cyberlink PowerDVD software is included (via free download) and supports DTS and Dolby Digital-EX decoding for an unmatched DVD movie-watching experience.

The X-Fi Titanium also supports Dolby Digital Live and DTS Connect encoding (Windows Vista only), so you can connect directly to your home-theater system through a single digital cable for fantastic 5.1 surround sound.

Advanced Features for Audio and Music Creation
For those in the audio- and music-creation business, the X-Fi Titanium offers advanced features for outstanding results. A dedicated mode supports near transparent conversion between any resolutions, digital-matched recording, low-latency ASIO support, and more.

System Requirements
Microsoft Windows 7, Vista, or XP; Intel Pentium 4 1.6 GHz or AMD Athlon XP 2000+ processor or equivalent; available PCI Express (x1, x4, x8, or x16) slot; 256MB RAM (512 MB RAM for Vista); 600MB of free hard-disk space; CD or DVD-ROM for software installation; headphones or amplified speakers; Internet connection to download PowerDVD player software.

What's in the Box
PCI Express Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium sound card, Quick Start leaflet, and installation CD.

Creative Sound Blaster Sound Cards (Internal)
Looking for external sound cards from Creative? Click here.	Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio PCI Sound Card	Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio PCI Express Sound Card	Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium PCI Express Sound Card	Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional Series PCI Express Sound Card	Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD Internal Sound Card with THX SB1270
General Info:
Connection Type	PCI	PCI Express	PCI Express	PCI Express	PCI Express
SNR for Playback	108 dB	104 dB	109 dB	109 dB	122 dB
Speaker/Headphone Support	Stereo to 7.1	Stereo to 7.1	Stereo to 7.1	Stereo to 7.1	Stereo, with dedicated 115dB 24-bit/96kHz HD headphone output
Music and Movies:
24-bit Sound Quality
X-Fi Crystalizer
X-Fi CMSS-3D
DTS & Dolby Digital Decoding via free PowerDVD Download
Dolby Digital Live and DTS Connect (Win Vista Only) Encoder
Swappable Op-Amps
THX TruStudio Pro
Games:
EAX Support	EAX 4.0	EAX 4.0	EAX 5.0	EAX 5.0	EAX 5.0
X-Fi CMSS-3D Headphone Surround
Hardware Accelerated for Better Performance
Hardware OpenAL and DirectSound3D Support
64MB X-RAM
Music Creation:
Dedicated Creation Mode with ASIO 2.0 and 3D Midi Support

Product Description

PC Gamers and audio enthusiasts looking for faster performance and more realistic gaming sound as well as the richest, most dynamic audio experience for music and movies.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 46 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing product October 25, 2008

By Edgar Mertins Pappa

I'm not what I would call a hardcore audiophile, but I like my music sounding strong and rich. I had an ASUS Xonar before this one, and I swapped it because the Xonar was not very good at games, which is the second use for the PC. I was afraid the X-Fi wouldn't live up the hype and I would lose music quality for games quality.
I was wrong. I cannot believe how incredible everything sounds. Music quality is perhaps the same or slightly better than with the Xonar, but gaming is just incredibly immersive.
The only two things I don't like very much of the product is 1. the "Modes" are just exactly that. "Entertainment mode" truly makes music sound incredible, but deactivates some gaming features, and "Gaming mode" reactivates all those, but music doesn't sound as well. Switching back and forth isn't my idea of fun. 2. It's Creative. I'm probably one of the most anti-Creative people around since I can't agree with most of their business decisions, but sadly, they have way to many sound patents that won't allow the competition to rise. Although I still hate them, it's just that sadly it's the best product around.

Overall I'm very impressed with the card.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Works well, decent drivers (for now) April 4, 2009

By K. McKenzie

I was using a Soundblaster X-Fi Platinum before buying this card, but the drivers for that card have been less than stable under Windows Vista/Windows 7, and I wanted a card with a TOSLINK input on the back, which this card has. It works much better than the on-board sound functionality, which would often squeak/turn into static with a high processor load, which made gaming difficult at best. I bought this instead of one of the ones built specifically for gaming because X-RAM is used in very few games, and I didn't think it would be much of a benefit. My only real concern is that Creative's driver quality is variable at best, so I can't be sure it will work as well in the future. My suggestion is that once you find a driver that you like, stick with it; don't upgrade just to upgrade. That may make sense with other drivers, like video drivers, but not with Creative drivers.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars IT WORKS WITH WINDOWS 7! February 19, 2011

By TV Addict

Amazon Verified Purchase

It DOES work with Windows 7 (64 bit)! Please read the rest of my post because it may help you. I upgraded my OS from Vista to Windows 7 and needed a Windows 7 compatible sound card. I did some research and chose this card over the Extreme X-Fi. I installed the sound card and booted up my PC, without disabling the onboard audio. After I downloaded the drivers, it worked nicely for about 30 minutes. Afterwards, I was getting popping and crackling noises throughout my music. I disabled the onboard audio, in the BIOS, and then I removed the drivers and downloaded them again. (I did this several times.) Problem did not go away. I removed the drivers, again, and restarted my pc, allowing Windows 7 to apply the Microsoft HD audio device driver. The noise went away, and the music sounded pretty good, but I wanted the full functionality that I paid for.
I contacted Creative tech support, and they were very helpful. I used some of their suggestions and added some of my own ideas. Here's how I got the sound card to work properly:

1.) I removed the sound card from my PC.
2.) I went to Device Manager and uninstalled the sound card.
3.) I went to Programs and uninstalled ALL software from Creative.
4.) I went to my PC vendor's website and downloaded the latest BIOS, drivers and firmware.
5.) I ran Norton Utilities 15 to scan and fix any errors on my C drive and registry. (It removed about 1500 temp files from my repeated attempts to reinstall the sound card drivers.)
6.) I installed the sound card into a different PCIe slot on my motherboard. (Even though Creative tech support, expressly, stated that I should not install the sound card in the PCIe slot right next to the video card, I ended up doing that because it was the only other slot available.)
7.) I went to the BIOS and disabled the onboard audio.
8.) I downloaded the drivers for the sound card from Creative's website. DO NOT USE THE CD THAT CAME IN THE BOX.

The sound card has been working, beautifully, for two weeks, now. I don't know what combination of the steps that I took to fix the problem did the trick, but it's better to be thorough. I am using some cheap speakers and headphones, but the sound is more nuanced than what I was getting from the Realtek HD onboard audio that I was using with Vista. Be careful because the volume is very loud! When you change modes or settings the volume can reset to something very high and blow out your eardrums!

Overall, I highly recommend this product. Now, I just need to buy some better speakers and/or headphones so that I can get the full benefits of this sound card.